Biden and his administration have clearly been a big part of the issue .. Oil companies happy to make profits? yes, of course .. still Biden Administration is a big part of the increased costs ..
As others have stated, supply and demand. The only ones making high profits are the NOCs (National Oil Companies), not Big Oil. Consider this:
Back in 2020, before Bido became pres, the USA was energy independent. Which meant that the US did not need to import oil as the amount produced in the USA was more than what was used by the USA. Now that did not mean we did not import oil. There are certain refineries here in the US that were built specifically to handle specific crude, like Venezuelan crude. Those refineries just can't take other crude without very major changes to their systems. This was done many, many years ago when very long term contracts were negotiated at very good prices for crude that was difficult to refine. So that means we had a surplus of crude that was then exported. So when you hear folks complaining that we 'have to import oil due to exporting it for more money', that is just not true. There were long term contracts that were entered into for US companies to supply crude to foreign refineries back then as we had a surplus.
Then Brandon was installed in office and Executive Ordered many things that changed our ability to produce crude. Pipelines cancelled, no new production on Federal lands, disincentives for low producing fields, and no more fracking, just to name a few. So almost immediately in 2021 US production began to drop and we are now having to import more crude to replace what is no longer produced in the US. Also, in 2021 demand began to pick back up as people's economic reaction to COVID changed. So more demand and less production generated in the US. That shortfall has to come from somewhere and it comes from NOCs. It is not coming from Shell, BP, Total, or any non-US major. It is not coming from Chevron or ExxonMobil fields outside of the USA. It is coming from the Saudis, Venezuela, Mexico, Russia, Nigeria, etc. They have NOCs and they are the ones reaping high profits on the price of crude. The gasoline producers and sellers here in the USA and all over the world have to buy that crude at much higher prices to feed the gas stations. That is why the price of gas is so high.
So demand goes up, US production goes down which in turn makes the total amount of crude produced in the world less. Note the steady gas price rise all though 2021. Then Russia invades and the US sanctions Russian oil, making even less available.
Yes, major oil companies do produce crude and the price they get is higher and they will make profits on that crude. But they buy way more than they produce, so the profits are really not that great. Remember that in 2020, they were loosing money due to the COVID demand drop and had so much crude they could not refine it as they had no storage left to hold gas. They had to pay tankers to just sail around and wait to offload since there was no more storage for crude at the refineries. That was why in 2020 gas was so cheap.
Supply and demand. But this country's policies impact the supply and hence the prices all over the world. So when a lib says 'Biden does not set the price of gas and certainly not in other countries' they are right. He does not 'set the price', but his policies control the price.
